Chinese duties on polysilicon imports from EU have expired

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has announced it will not renew the antidumping and countervailing measures it imposed on polysilicon imports from the EU in May 2014.

In March, the ministry specified that the expiration of the duties was planned for Oct. 31, 2018, provided that no organization or company of the Chinese solar industry would file a petition to request renewal of the measures for another 18-month period. “Within the time limit set in the announcement, the domestic polysilicon industry did not submit a final application for review,” MOFCOM said in its statement.

The duties had been renewed a first time for a 18-month period in May 2017. At the time, the Chinese government stated that the extension of the duties was necessary, as their cancellation would have likely led to dumping practices from the EU, which would endanger the Chinese polysilicon industry.

These measures were introduced by the MOFCOM as countervailing measures by Beijing against the EU duties on Chinese solar modules.

In November 2017, the MOFCOM also adjusted the anti-dumping duties on imports of polysilicon from South Korea it imposed in January 2014.

China imposed duties on polysilicon imported from South Korea and the United States in July 2013, after launching an investigation into alleged antidumping of the raw material by U.S. and South Korean producers in the prior year. China had initially spared European polysilicon producers (namely Germany), after Beijing and Berlin reached an agreement on the matter in July 2013.